Margarita Island: The Vice President of India, M. Hamid Ansari has said that a peaceful global environment is essential for development and for development cooperation; such cooperation must be undertaken in exercise of the sovereign will of each member of the community of nations.

He was addressing the 17th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit in Margarita Island, Venezuela. The President of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, the President of Iran, Hassan Rouhani and other dignitaries were present on the occasion.

The Vice President said that, the biggest threat to international peace, and to the sovereignty of States, is the phenomenon of Terrorism and no cause justifies the indiscriminate killing of innocent civilians as a means to achieve a political goal or change of policies. He further said that terrorism is one of the most egregious sources of human right violations today, and its use as an instrument of State policy is to be unequivocally condemned as it has become a major impediment to development.

The Vice President said that the imperative for the Non-Aligned Movement to galvanize the international community to address this menace of Terrorism, including by adopting the draft Comprehensive UN Convention on Terrorism. He further said that urgent reform of the Security Council as part of the effort to make the United Nations fit for the 21st century. We need to establish a mechanism within our movement that will ensure effective cooperation in combating terrorism, that is the main threat to security, sovereignty and development, he added.

The Vice President said that theme for the next three years – “Peace, Sovereignty and Solidarity for Development” – is in congruence with our founding principles. He further said that sustainable development is both the bedrock and the highest aspiration of our efforts; hence the importance of solidarity that this Movement attaches to achieving it. He also said that the other two elements of our triad of objectives – Peace and Sovereignty – are a pre-requisite for development. NAM must be in the vanguard of the principal international debates on political, strategic and even economic and social issues, he added.